Maternal Viral Infection May Increase Autism Risk in Fetus
A recent study shows that activating a woman's immune system during pregnancy interferes with the development of neural cells in the brains of her offspring in a way that damages the cells' ability to transmit signals and communicate with other cells.
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New Year’s Fertility Resolutions: Leave Behind Bad Vices
It is common knowledge that drinking alcoholic beverages or those that are high in caffeine, smoking, and taking herbal remedies are frowned upon while pregnant or nursing. These substances can have a negative impact on your baby's growth and development.
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Global Insecticide May be Altering the Brain
Chlorpyrifos is an insecticide that used to be used in households in the US to kill insects in yards and gardens. When pregnant women are exposed to even the smallest amount of the chemical it can affect the fetus.
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Is It Safe to Put Headphones on Your Belly During Pregnancy?
While music is generally considered safe for the fetus, there are some rules about playing music through your belly aimed at protecting baby and preventing possible risk during development.
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Hospital Care for a Premature Infant
Premature infants are born before the 37th week gestation. The earlier an infant is born, the greater the chance special care will be required before the infant is discharged from the hospital.
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Pregnancy Timeline Calculator
The babyMed pregnancy timeline calculator creates a personalized 9+ months timeline and a timetable of your pregnancy progress.
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Can Fetal Heart Rate Predict a Miscarriage?
The fetal heart rate can be seen on ultrasound as early as 5 weeks 1 days of the pregnancy, and usually it's seen by 6 weeks and 0 days.
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Pregnancy Week By Week
See how your baby is developing during pregnancy week by week..
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Third Trimester of Pregnancy: What Happens With My Baby?
You're finally in your third trimester, and you're feeling it from head to toe. While you enjoyed the second trimester thoroughly, the third trimester starts a whole crop of new physical and emotional changes.
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What Happens To My Baby in the First Trimester?
Your body goes through many changes throughout the first trimester, as does your baby. Here are some things that will happen as your baby goes through the first 12 weeks of life.
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Baby’s Brain Injury May Have Occurred Long Before Delivery
Recent advances in medical science indicate many brain injuries occur during pregnancy, long before labor begins. In these cases, medical personnel are not at fault.
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Preterm Birth Rate at Record Low
The March of Dimes issues an annual 'report card' to each state and to the US as a nation. The report cards reveal which well-baby strategies areworking and where improvement is needed.
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The Human Microbiome and Pregnancy, Fertility, Infertility
A great deal of study is underway to learn more about the vaginal, gut, and uterine microbiome (collection of bacteria, fungi, yeast, and other microbial inhabitants) in fertility and pregnancy.
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Researchers Create Patch to Repair Ruptured Membranes
One of the leading causes of premature labor is ruptured membranes.There are a variety of reasons why the 'bag of waters' ruptures tooearly, but once the bag has broken the pregnancy must end within a short period to prevent complications.
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Psychiatric Disorders Linked to Environmental Stressors During Gestation
A team of researchers based at Yale University seem to be one giant step closer to solving the riddles of when and how some psychiatric disorders start.
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Pregnancy Diet May Affect Future Bone Health of Child
It's known that eating well during pregnancy holds an abundance of health benefits for both mother and baby, but a new study has shed light on the extent to which nutrition during pregnancy can specifically affect a baby bone health.
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Amniotic Band Syndrome
In rare cases, amniotic bands become entangled around the fetus. The
condition is called amniotic band syndrome. The bands can wrap around
limbs, vital areas or the umbilical cord. As the fetus grows, blood flow
is restricted.
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Link Between Brain Chemicals and Developmental Problems in Newborns
Scientists have discovered a new way to determine whether a preterm infant is at risk for motor development problems.
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Fasting During Ramadan Linked to Lower Birth Weight
According to a new study published in the American Journal of Human
Biology, the observance of Ramadan in the Muslim faith has a negative
effect on the fetus that could cause medical issues later in life.
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Ultrasound Safety During Pregnancy
Ultrasounds
have been used for more than 50 years to take images of the human body
for diagnostic use. During pregnancy, women are often given at least one
ultrasound to record fetal growth, number, orientation and development.
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Cleft Lip / Cleft Palate
The term cleft lip or cleft palate refers to a birth defect that affects the upper lip and/or the roof of the mouth, known as the palate. In mild cases, the birth defect does not affect eating and can easily be repaired with simple cosmetic surgery.
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Preconception Zinc Deficiency Disrupts Fetal Development
A diet rich in zinc is the subject of a recent study that showed how important this mineral is before pregnancy begins.
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Healthier Babies Born After Coal Plant Closes
The closing of a coal power plant in China provided an ideal opportunity to study effects of air pollution and childhood health. Women who became pregnant after the plant closed had healthier babies.
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The Fetal Brain: Now There’s a Map for That
A grant made it possible for a large team of researchers specializing in various fields of medicine and technology to map the fetal brain as its never been done before.
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Dietary Iodine Crucial for Fetal Brain Development
A new study from Sweden reinforces the importance of adequate dietary intake of iodine during pregnancy and breastfeeding. Iodine is a mineral important to thyroid function.
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Placenta Works Like Embryonic Oxygen Tank
Professor John Aplin has discovered that the developing placenta absorbs and collects oxygen and slowly releases it into the embryo. It works as an oxygen holding tank.
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Marijuana’s Effects on the Fetal Brain
Like alcohol and tobacco, caution must be exercised during pregnancy when smoking marijuana as the developing fetus is exposed to everything its mother consumes during that time.
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Prognostic Factors for Low Birth Weight Repetition
Information collected by the Pelotas Birth Cohort was used in a recent
study published in BMC Pregnancy and Childbirth. The study reported
prognostic factors doctors can look for in patients with prior low birth
weight pregnancies.
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Embryonic Development May be Associated with Heart Defects
While animal studies do not always result in direct correlations with
human outcomes, researchers believe chicken heart development may hold
the key to a possible breakthrough in congenital heart defect
development.
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Fetal Yawns Captured in 4-D
The latest ultrasound technology shows us that all this delightful
activity starts long before a baby is born. Yawns, for instance, keep a
baby busy during the sixth month of gestation.
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Protein Responsible for Cell-Cell Fusion Revealed
In healthy human tissues, cell-cell fusion is uncommon, but this
fusion is necessary for placental development during pregnancy.
Researchers have long searched for some idea or indication explaining
how the body promotes cell-cell fusion during pregnancy.
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BPA Could Increase Down Syndrome Risk in Unborn Fetus
BPA, or Bisphenol A, is an ingredient in some plastics and other
household items. The chemical has been in the news for more than a year
thanks to several research studies proving negative side effects on the
fetal level with maternal exposure.
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Neuroprotection of the Fetus with Magnesium Sulfate
Magnesium sulfate can be delivered via IV to pregnant women who are
at risk of eclampsia or preterm labor. Researchers also believe the
medication could prove useful as an antenatal medication to protect the
fetus from brain injury
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Fatty Acids Vital to Fetal Development
Biologists have long debated why different tissues grow in the right locations in a developing embryo. A new study reveals the important role polyunsaturated fatty acids play in this process.
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Mom’s Allergy Shots Lower Baby’s Risk
More than 50 million Americans are affected by allergy problems that include food allergies, seasonal and environmental allergies, asthma, and eczema. When a parent is allergic to something, there's a good chance his or her children will be allergic too.
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Got Milk? Get Taller Babies
Thorhallur Halldorsson says, 'There aren't many prenatal dietary orenvironmental factors identified that explain growth in children (but)milk drinking may be one.'
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Aging Begins in the Womb
In recent weeks, medical science has delivered some pretty harsh blows
to the forever-young wannabes searching for the Fountain of Youth. Seems
one marker of the aging process - cellular senescence - begins in the
womb.
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New Study: Autism Begins in the Womb
The mystery of autism is one step closer to being solved, thanks to a meticulous study conducted by researchers in Washington and California. The team discovered that autism begins in the womb.
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Eye Development Relies on Pregnancy Light Exposure
The light women see during pregnancy may play a huge role in healthy
eye development in the fetus. According to research recently published
in the journal Nature, light promotes release of the protein melanopsin,
but the protein is only released in the fetus.
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Human Heart Tissue Jumbled Until Late Pregnancy
Despite the fact that the first human heart beat can be detected early
in the first trimester, researchers from the University of Leeds report
human heart tissues remain jumbled until walls develop late in
pregnancy.
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Maternal Biomarkers and Early Fetal Size
Researchers from Erasmus Medical Center in the Netherlands recently
published a study on the impact of fetal biomarkers on first trimester
fetal size.
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Vitamin D During Pregnancy Makes Kids’ Muscles Stronger
New research indicates a mother's exposure to vitamin D during pregnancy makes her children's muscles stronger.
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Respiratory Function in Children Born to Mothers with Asthma
Researchers from the Department of Medicine at the Universidade Federal de Sergipe in Brazil recently completed a study concluding that maternal asthma may increase the risk of childhood asthma in offspring.
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Folic Acid Linked to Autism Prevention
If there is one thing that drives researchers it is a medical condition with no definitive cause. Autism is one of those conditions. Though there are some medical ideas about the possible roots of some forms of autism, there has yet to be one study producing a clear, concise and definitive cause of autism.
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Lack of Oxygen In-Utero Linked to ADHD
Having the correct amount of oxygen delivered to growing organs and
cells of the fetus are important to healthy fetal development, but researchers at Kaiser Permanente suggest oxygen levels are important in functional development as well.
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Mother’s Sugar Intake Triggers Fetal Brain Insulin Response
A group of German researchers have recently documented the connection
between a mother's sugar intake and the brain activity of the baby she
carries.
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Chemotherapy During Pregnancy: No Developmental Problem Risk
Using chemotherapy during pregnancy for the treatment of cancer comes
with great concern for the health of the fetus. Researchers have
recently completed a study involving a small number of children born
after in-utero exposure to chemotherapy.
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1 in 6 Kids Suffers Neurodevelopmental Disorder
One in six American children suffers from a neurodevelopmental
disorder, including but not limited to, attention deficit hyperactivity
disorder (ADHD), autism spectrum disorders ASD), or delays in speech and language.
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Mom’s Exercise Powers Up Baby’s Brain
The value of exercise makes headlines everywhere - on TV, on the internet, and in newspapers and in magazines. Exercise energizes us, helps us sleep better, builds stronger bones and muscles, keeps excess weight off, and helps fend off many common ailments.
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Gestational Diabetes Linked to Kidney Disease in Offspring
The work of a team of researchers revealed a link between the development of chronic kidney disease (CKD) in children and certain maternal conditions experienced before or during pregnancy.
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